Managing lactose intolerance

Most people who are lactose intolerant can tolerate lactose in small amounts. However, if is best to stick to a diet that is low in lactose.

Cheese and yoghurt tend to be better tolerated than drinking milk.

Full fat milk contains slightly less lactose than reduced fat or non-fat milk.

Try not to remove dairy products from your diet entirely as they are very good for you.

Drink milk in moderate quantities. Most people with this condition can tolerate 240ml of milk per day, but you need to be work out your own tolerance level. You can buy milk that has had the lactose broken down, which makes it lactose free.

Heat breaks down some of the lactose in milk into other sugars (glucose and galactose) so using UHT and evaporated milk shouldn't cause problems.

Don't eat a lot of foods containing lactose at once - instead try to spread your consumption of lactose over the day.

Soy products are lactose free so consider substituting dairy products for soy milk, yoghurt and cheese. Soy can be used in cooking to replace whole dairy milk for babies over 7 months of age. Soy should not replace breast milk or infant formula for children under 12 months of age.

Always check the list of ingredients on the packaging of processed foods for: